The 4G thread: Wireless carrier upgrade plans

haven

Expedition Leader
Let's keep track of the plans of wireless data service providers (i.e, cell phone companies) to upgrade to higher speed equipment. The new equipment is usually labeled "4G," meaning it's the 4th generation of data transmission gear.

In USA, Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, Sprint, and MetroPCS have announced plans to move to 4G equipment in 2010 or 2011. 4G's main promise is 3 to 5 times faster download and upload speeds. The higher speeds will make new services like streaming movies and video chat feasible. Faster speed also means more customers can be accommodated from a single cell phone tower.

Even though wireless carriers are starting to roll out 4G services, the 4G speeds won't be available across their entire networks for many years. So cell phone carriers are advertising their data service as 4G/3G, depending on where you're connecting to their network.

Almost all cell phones and USB data modems on the market today use 3G technology. These devices won't directly benefit from 4G service. I expect cell phone manufacturers will offer lots of new models with upgraded 4G-capable radios. For example, I think Verizon Wireless will offer an iPhone with 4G capability by the end of the year. AT&T will follow suit in mid-2011, when its 4G network is ready.

On to news from individual companies.
 

haven

Expedition Leader
Verizon Wireless announced today that it will offer a 4G data service in 38 metropolitan areas in USA by the end of 2010. In the same time frame, 4G service will be available at 60 airports nationwide.

Look here to see the list of cities and airports
http://news.vzw.com/news/2010/10/pr2010-10-01c.html

Verizon Wireless's 4G service is based on LTE ('long term evolution') technology.

Verizon Wireless does not at present sell cell phones or data modems that can take advantage of their 4G service. I expect this shortcoming will be remedied very shortly.

No announcement was made about the price of 4G service contracts.
 

Fish

Adventurer
Yes, 4G is why I paid extra for getting only a 1 year contract on my air card. Hopefully, someone comes out with a 4G aircard with an antenna port. :sombrero:
 

4xdog

Explorer
A neighbor to my Atlanta place works for Verizon and showed me some of the capabilities of his 4G phone on the Verizon network last July. Very impressive. And some of the better stuff, he told me, he couldn't show me. not sure what that means, but I think it's safe to say 4G isn't just hype.

Don
 

Antichrist

Expedition Leader
I feel like such a Luddite using my cell phone for nothing but a phone. Ok, that's not strictly true, I send one or two text messages a month and occasionally take a picture with it.
 

haven

Expedition Leader
Sprint, through its partnership with Clearwire corporation, is the only carrier to offer 4G services today in a large number of locations. 56 metropolitan areas are supported now, with 20 more to be added in the next few months. San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City come online on November 1.

Clearwire offers service based on WiMax technology. Some people say WiMax doesn't offer performance that's as fast as the LTE gear that other carriers are installing. However, WiMax 2, the second generation of WiMax, is undergoing testing, and probably will appear in 2012. WiMax 2 offers speeds that are about 50 times faster than WiMax. So it appears that WiMax will be a viable 4G alternative for years to come.

Sprint offers a wide range of 4G connection alternatives. Sprint sells two 4G phones today: The Epic 4G (a version of the Samsung Galaxy S phone with slide out keyboard), and the HTC Evo 4G, with onscreen keyboard. Both phones run Android 2.2.

Sprint also offers a 4G hotspot called the Overdrive, and two USB data modems that support 4G. In addition, Sprint sells a gateway/router that connects your local area network to the Internet via wireless 4G service.

All these devices also work with 3G service, so when you're not in a 4G service area, you can still get online through Sprint's 3G.

Signing up for 4G service through Clear (http://www.clearwire.com) rather than Sprint can be less expensive. Clear offers 4G-only devices as well as 4G/3G hybrids. If you live in a Clear service area, you might be able to get away with 4G only. If you travel, you'll want a device that switches over to 3G when 4G is not available. At this writing, Sprint offers the same 4G/3G hotspot that Clear offers, and for less money.
 

ShoxX

Observer
I know I have mentioned it here before but I build and maintain cell sites for a living. Been doing so for 10 years, now I run my division. For the last 8 mo we have been working on LTE project for Verizon. So far just in So. VA we have completed 150+ sites. With 150+ on the books for next year. Coverage should stretch across 75% of there existing footprint. They are talking like we you can expect bit rates equivalent to cable internet.

I also built a number of 4g sites for Sprint earlier in the year for Clearwire. Once again very impressive speeds. I just upgraded to a 3g/4g air card for work and there is a huge difference. Unfortunately Clearwire doesn't have a 1/4 of the footprint that Sprint has you can only expect to have 4g/wifi service in major metro areas.

AT&T LTE is still 12mos out in my area so I'm not sure what we can expect from them.
 

Jeepthreat

Observer
tmobile 4g works great! but it is only in the big cities and not at all in some states.

Rumor is they are going to announce a 5gb cap on 4g data and after that you get throttled to 3g.
 

haven

Expedition Leader
Thanks, ShoxX, for reports from the field. I'd be interested to learn more about how much equipment is changed/added to a 3G cell site to provide 4G capability.

Jeepthreat, you point out an interesting issue. All the cell carriers are tightening up on their "unlimited" 3G data plans, with caps now set at 5GB per month or even less. We don't yet have a clear picture of what 4G data plans will cost. Certainly streaming video content and video chat will burn through that 5GB in a hurry!
 

haven

Expedition Leader
T-Mobile has turned on HSPA+ service in 75 metropolitan areas, and more are on the way. Today, you can order two HSPA+ devices from T-Mobile: A phone called the mytouch 4G, an HTC Android model with 3.7" 480x800 screen; and a Dell netbook with HSPA+ radio included. Read about the phone here
http://mytouch.t-mobile.com/mytouch-4g

While there are technical arguments that say HSPA+ is not a true 4G technology, today T-Mobile provides data transfer speeds that are equal to, or faster than, their competitors' products.
 

haven

Expedition Leader
Details of Verizon's 4G LTE service were announced today. The LTE equipment goes live on December 5 in 38 cities and 60 airports across USA. See the list here by pressing the "show press release" button:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/01/verizon-lte-plans-start-at-50-month-for-5gb-of-data/

Data modems that plug into USB will be available at Verizon Wireless stores at launch. The modems will support LTE as well as Verizon's current EVDO data network. LTE Phones will appear after the CES show in January.

Why care about LTE service? Verizon's press release says,
"The company expects 4G LTE average data rates in real-world, loaded network environments to be 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink."

Using the low estimates of 5 Mb down, 2 Mb up, LTE is maybe 10 times faster than EVDO, and about as fast as most people's home WiFi network.

The price of the LTE service is announced at $50 a month for 5 GB of data downloaded, and $80 for 10 GB. That's the same as Verizon charges today for EVDO.

I'm hoping that a MiFi hotspot for LTE appears soon. At that point, I'll cancel the data service provided by my local cable company.
 

haven

Expedition Leader
MetroPCS has updated its 4G voice/data plans. Now there are three levels of service: $40, $50 and $60 a month. Service is available on a month-to-month basis, no annual contract. Details here http://www.metropcs.com/plans/default.aspx

$40 buys web access at 4G speeds, text and picture messaging (MMS), unlimited calls within USA, and 5GB (?) of data transfers per month.

$50 adds international text messaging, turn by turn navigation, an additional 1 GB for data transfers, unlimited access to email, and other stuff.

$60 adds "unlimited" transfers, and 4G video on demand.

MetroPCS 4G service is available in a handful of USA cities, including Dallas, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Bakersfield, Las Vegas, New York City, Sacramento, Philadelphia and Detroit.

MetroPCS uses LTE equipment for its 4G service.
 

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